Releasable retaining means for the bowls of electric all-glass-lamps



April 4, 1967 ERHARDT ETAL 3,312,817

RELEASABLE RETAINING MEANS FOR THE BOWLS OF ELECTRIC ALL-GLASS-LAMPSFiled Dec. 28, 1964 4 Sheets-Sheet l April 4, 1967 M. ERHARDT ETAL3,312,817

RELEASABLE RETAINING MEANS FOR THE BOWLS OF ELECTRIC ALL-GLASS-LAMPSFiled Dec. 28, 1964 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 4 4 ml 74 I 3 I4 10 Z April 4, 1967ERHARDT ETAL 3,312,817

RELEASABLE RETAINING MEANS FOR THE BOWLS OF ELECTRIC ALL-GLASS-LAMPSFiled Dec. 28, 1964 4 Sheets-Sheet 5 I' M W Fig.10

April 4, 1967 M. ERHARDT ETAL RELEASABLE RETAINING MEANS FOR THE BOWLSOF ELECTRIC ALL-GLASS-LAMPS 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed Dec. 28, 1964 UnitedStates Patent Ofifice Filed Dec. 28, 1964, Ser. No. 421,391 1 Claimspriority, application Germany, Jan. 20, 1964,

z 1 Claim. oi. 240-128) This invention relates to releasable retainingmeans, in particular, for the bowl of an electric lamp which hasretaining members arranged on a support to grip the rim of the lamp bowlfrom below, in the working position. Such lamps are known as all-glasslamps.

In known arrangements of this kind, the retaining members are actuatedby a lever, which projects radially over the rim of the lamp bowl. Thesevery advantageous devices are considered unacceptable in many cases foraesthetic reasons, owing to the laterally projecting and thus visibleactuating lever.

It has already been proposed to associate a rockinglever spring assemblywith the retaining members so that, on putting the bowl in place, onearm of a two-armed angled lever is pivoted, thereby the other arm ofthis lever is swung into the working position, gripping the rim of thebowl from below. Since the spring-loaded angled lever snaps intoposition, thus striking the bowl rim, the bowl is often damaged and,consequently, can only be made of glass having a certain minimumthickness.

It is an object of the present invention to provide improved releasableretaining means particularly for electric all-glass lamp bowls.

According to the present invention we provide releasable retaining meansfor the bowl of an electric allglass lamp or the like which haveretaining members mounted on a support and arranged to grip the bowl rimfrom below in the position of use, in which said retaining memberscomprise parts which are mounted on the support and are radiallydisplaceable against the action of springs. Said parts are displacedinwardly when the bowl is put into position. Once the bowl reaches itsposition of use, they return into their initial position under springaction and grip the bowl rim from below. A reverse process takes placewhen the bowl is removed.

Suitably, said parts comprise rollers each being displaceable inwardlyagainst the action of a return spring.

The proposal of the invention is realized advantageously in such amanner that, on mounting and on removing the bowl, each of the rollersis radially displaceable in a recess of the base plate of the supportand of the cylindrical rim of the support, and has a bearing pin guidedin a groove of the base plate.

The return spring may comprise a spring bearing against thecircumference of the roller bodies.

It is advisable to construct the roller bodies so that their peripherieshave a high coefiicient of friction, either by peripherally rougheningthem or by lining them with a material having a high coefi'icient offriction, e.g. rubber.

In an alternative construction according to the invention, an archedportion of a spring projects outwards through an aperture of the supportrim and replaces said rollers. One end of said spring is fast with thebase plate of the support, while the other end is radially displaceablein a guiding groove of said base plate.

The resulting advantage is that only a single component combining aprojecting part and a return spring is required. The bearing pins andguiding grooves l 3,312,817 Patented Apr. 4, 1967 mentioned above canalso be dispensed with. To this must be added the advantage that sincethe retaining member comprises the spring itself, the latter is incontinuous resilient contact with the bowl when the latter is mounted orremoved, so that a danger of damage to the bowl by a snapping movementof the retaining member is virtually avoided.

The concept of this invention may be developed further, based on theobservation that it is necessary not only to maintain securely the bowlin its position of use and danger of breakage,

it is also particularly important to hold said bowl immovable in itsposition of use despite dimensional deviations which are unavoidable inthe manufacture of such bowls.

Accordingly, the present further development provides that the archedportion of a blade spring projecting outwards through an aperture in therim of the disc-shaped support acts on the bowl in the radial and axialdirections relative to the support. Thus, this arched spring portion isso constructed and arranged that one end of the spring is anchored tothe bottom of the support, while the other end of the spring extendsfreely upwardly.

A spring of this kind, which acts as retaining member and is also activeas a spring element, has an action component in the radial direction ofthe support and also an action component in perpendicular to thatdirection, i.e. in the axial direction of the support. It is thusensured that manufacturing tolerances are compensated maintained in itsposition of use not only reliably but also without rattling. A furtheradvantage is that the element here considered is inexpensive tomanufacture, e.g. by stamping or pressing, and is also simple to mount.It is also advantageous that the retaining member does not require to befirst moved into an initial or preparatory position, as is the case withrocking-lever assemblies, prior to mounting the bowl. This is importantbecause, in this manner, even technically unskilled housewives canmount: and remove the bowl without error and diiliculty.

In order to prevent the free upper end of the blade spring from rubbingagainst the wall or ceiling of the room, the support may be providedwith a protective means against which the free'end of the springslidably bears.

It is of course possible to combine several retaining members of theaforedescribed type into a. single unit. The latter then must beprovided with a central hole for the screw serving to fasten the lamp tothe ceiling, wall, or the like, or eccentric fastening screws must beemployed.

Another development of the invention is spring is employed as returnspring; rod spring is fastened to the support and the spring extendsperpendicularly to the direction of movement of the roller to act on thelatter with its free end.

In an advantageous construction, according to the invention the rodspring extends through the roller and serves simultaneously as itsbearing pin and this dispenses with separate bearing means for therollers.

According to a further feature of the invention, two rod springs of twodiametrically opposite rollers can be formed integrally and as anapproximately semicircular arch spring.

Embodiments of the invention will now be described, by way of example,with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a section through an all-glass electric lamp having releasableretaining means for the lamp bowl;

FIG. 2 is a top view of the lamp but with the bowl removed;

that a red the one end of the FIG. 3 is a fragmentary section showinganother construction;

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary section showing a further construction;

FIG. 5 is a section on the line V-V of FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a section showing another lamp construction;

FIG. 7 is a top view corresponding to FIG. 6 but with the bowl removed;

FIG. 8 is a section on the line VIIIVI1I of FIG. 6;

FIG. 9 is a section showing a further lamp construction;

FIG. 10 is a top view corresponding to FIG. 9 but with the bowl removed;

FIG. 11 is a section showing a further lamp construction; and,

FIG. 12 is a top view corresponding to FIG. 11 but with the bowlremoved.

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2 of the drawings, support or holder 1, whichcan be fastened to a wall, ceiling or the like in a conventional manner,comprises a base plate 2, a cylindrical rim 3 and an angled fasteningflange 4.

In this embodiment, the base plate 2 has radial apertures 5 forretaining members, said apertures 5 continuing into correspondingapertures 6 of the rim 3. The retaining members, formed as rollers 7,can be displaced radially to and fro in these apertures. To this end,they are mounted with their bearing pins 8 in grooves 9 provided inshackles it of the base plate 2. These shackles can be cut out duringthe forming of the apertures 5 and then angled to the bottom plate.

When bowl 11 is put into position, i.e. is moved against the supportfrom below, the rollers 7 will be pushed inwards through the bowl rim,until they come to occupy the position indicated by broken lines on theright-hand side of FIG. 1. As soon as the bowl has reached its positionof use here shown, the rollers 7 return into the initial position underthe effect of spring 12, and grip the bowl rim from below.

The drawing shows that this arrangement is substantially simpler inconstruction than the proposed prior constructions mentioned above,irrespective of whether those with laterally projecting actuating leveror those with a rocking-lever spring assembly are considered. For thisreason and also because the device does not engage the bowl rim in asnapping movement, so that the danger of breakage of the bowl issubstantially diminished, the new device constitutes a considerableadvance in the art.

According to FIGS. 1 and 2, each return spring is a spring arm extendingat an angle to the bottom plate and bearing tangentially against theroller body, which is fastened to the base plate at 13 in a suitablemanner. However, as FIG. 3 shows, it is also possible to form the springarm so that it extends from the base plate at an angle and thentransforms into a terminal portion extending, substantiallyperpendicularly to. said plate bearing tangentially against thecircumference of the roller.

According to FIGS. 4 and S, the spring is U-shaped. One arm bears in theusual manner against the roller, as shown in FIG.'3, while the otherarm, extending substantially parallel thereto, is passed through theaperture 5 of the base plate and engages the latter from below withenlarged foot portion 13.

In addition to the advantages already mentioned, the invention alsobrings the advantage of rattle-free securing of the bowl on the support.

Referring now to FIGS. 6 to 8, the support 1 is fastened to the ceiling,wall or the like of the room, as described above; the support has a baseplate 2 and cylindrical rim 3, with fastening flange 4 angled thereto.With its arched portion 17, spring 14 projects outwardly through anaperture 18 of the rim 3. One end 19 of the spring engages the baseplate, while its other end 20 can be slid to and fro in slit-likeaperture 21 of the bottom plate. The spring end 20 engages the baseplate 2 with its enlarged foot portion 22.

As can be seen from the drawing, when bowl 23 is put in position or isremoved, the arched spring portion 17 is pressed radially inwards, whilethe spring end 20 slides in the aperture 21. As soon as the bowl hasreached its position of use, according to. P16. 6, the spring portion 17returns into its initial position and grips the rim of the bowl frombelow.

According to FIGS. 9 and 10, the support can again be fastened in theusual manner to the ceiling, wall or the like of the room and comprisesbottom plate 2, rim 3 and angled fastening flange 4.

A bent leaf spring (FIG. 9) serves as a retaining member and springelement for holding bowl 23 in its position of use, arched portion 24 ofthe spring projecting outwards through aperture 25 in the support rim.Spring end 26 is fast with base plate 2 of the support simply by passingit below stamped-out cross-bar 27 and out through aperture 28. Thespring can be anchored to the base plate 2 by means of enlarged endportion 29.

The other spring end 30 extends freely upwards and then inwards, andthus the arched portion 24 moves, when the bowl is put into position,both in direction of arrow x and of arrow y. Consequently, the bowl 23is pressed against the fastening flange 4 in a rattle-free manner; alsopossible dimensional irregularities are compensated.

Since, when moving the spring 24, the free spring end 3t) slidessomewhat along the wall, ceiling, etc., and since it is usually veryundesirable to chip off plaster particles, etc., during such movement,as such debris falls into the support 1 or into the bowl 23, thesupport, as shown in the right-hand portion of FIG. 9, may be providedwith a sliding protection spar 31. The spar extends flush with thefastening flange 4 being formed during the stampingout of the aperture25 and brought into its position of use by upward folding.

As already mentioned, it is possible to combine several retainingmembers, e.g., the three retaining members of FIG. 10, in a singlecomponent.

Lastly, referring to FIGS. 11 and 12, support 1, which is fastened inthe usual manner to the ceiling, wall, etc., of the room concerned,again consists of base plate 2, cylindrical rim 3 and angled fasteningflange 4. As in the embodiments of FIGS. 1 to 5, rollers 32 serve asretaining members which are radially displaceable in a slotshapedaperture 33 of the base plate 2. This aperture is continuous with acorresponding aperture 34 in the support rim 3.

The rollers 32 are mounted with their bearing pins 35 in grooves, slitsor like apertures 36, provided in two shackles 37 which are cut outduring the formation of the apertures 33 and then angled to the baseplate 2.

The rollers 32 are under the action of a return spring, which is a rodspring 38, fastened at 39 to the base plate 2 of the support. In theregion of the roller, the spring 38 lies substantially perpendicular tothe direction of movement of said roller. In this embodiment the springconstitutes the bearing pin (35) of the roller.

When bowl 43 is placed in position, bowl rim 40 displaces the roller 32from the position shown in full lines to the position indicated bybroken lines. As soon as the bowl rim has reached the position of use,as shown in FIG. 11, the rim 4% is moved back by the spring 38 into itsinitial position. In this position, the roller 32 grips the bowl rim 40from below and holds the bowl in position.

In order to ensure that the bowl rim 46 is held rattlefree in itsposition of use against the flange 4, the spring 38 may be pre-stressedin the direction of arrow x, in which case the guiding aperture 36 hasan upwardly-directed front extension 41.

For the purpose of introducing the spring 38 into the aperture 36, theshackles are provided with upwardlyopening slit-like apertures 42.

As the drawing shows, the two springs 38 of two diametrically oppositeretaining members can be united to form a substantially semi-circulararched spring.

It is of course virtually immaterial what materials have been used inthe manufacture of the bowl, which may consist of, e.g., glass,transparent plastic, etc.

The invention can be applied with particular advantages to electricrall-glass lamps, but is not restricted to this application. It is alsosuitable for use with other lamps having covers, and, generally, everywhere where a ringor bowl-shaped cover or shade is to be releasablyconnected with a holder. Consequently, reference will be made in theclaims to electric all-glass lamps or the like.

What we claim is:

A releasable mounting for a surface mounted glass bowl having a radiallyinwardly turned lip and which bowl surrounds an electric light sourcecomprising:

(1) a plate member;

(2) means including an annular ring spacing said plate member from andsupporting said plate member in parallel relation to the mountingsurface;

(3) means defining a plurality of radial openings through said ring;

(4) a plurality of spring members formed of flat sheet stock positionedbetween said plate and the mounting surface and supported on said plate,said spring members each including bowed portions extending radiallyoutwardly of said openings for engagement with the inner undersurface ofthe turned-in lip of the bowl and urging said bowl into engagement withthe mounting surface, said plate member including a plurality of slotsadjacent, the periphery thereof and in which the ends of said springmembers are received within said slots, the extremities of one end ofeach spring member having an enlarged portion to engage the underside ofsaid plate member whereby when a bowl is pressed over said springmember, the bowed portions are first forced radially inwardly, said endhaving the enlarged extremity sliding radially inwardly in its slot topermit the bowl to be positioned beyond the bowed portions of saidspring member whereupon said bowed portions return to their initialposition and urge the bowl into engagement with the mounting surface byengagement with the underside of the inwardly turned lip of the bowl.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,832,516 11/1931Wening 240-133 FOREIGN PATENTS 1,219,194 12/1959 France. 1,223,6112/1960 France. 1,257,891 2/1961 France. 1,336,264 7/1963 France.

942,726 11/1963 Great Britain.

NORTON ANSHER, Primary Examiner. C. C. LOGAN, Assistant Examiner.

